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Insight 25: Nurse Well-Being is Foundational to Patient Safety

7 minMarch, 13 2026

More than 25 years after To Err Is Human put patient safety on the national agenda, the crisis persists. The WHO estimates that 1 in 10 patients worldwide experiences harm during medical care, and half of it is preventable. And yet one foundational factor remains overlooked: the well-being of the people delivering care. With more than half of nurses reporting burnout and hundreds of thousands expected to leave the profession, the workforce crisis and the patient safety crisis are now one and the same.

In this Insight from Episode 123: Safer Together | The Architecture of a Movement, Donald Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP, President Emeritus and Senior Fellow at IHI and former Administrator of CMS, and Patricia McGaffigan, RN, Vice President at IHI and President of the Certification Board for Professionals in Patient Safety, make the case that healthcare must look beyond its own walls, drawing on lessons from aviation and other industries, to build cultures where psychological safety, dignity, and the freedom to speak up are the foundation of safe care. Not sentiment but essential reality.

To listen to this Insight clip's full episode, visit the SEE YOU NOW Podcast Episode 123: Safer Together | The Architecture of a Movement on APPLE, SPOTIFY, YOUTUBE, or your favorite streaming platform.

About See You Now Podcast

SEE YOU NOW is a podcast that shines a light on the real people changing the status quo in health: from nurses working in labor and delivery, with infectious diseases, and in hospice; to nurse allies in politics, business and tech. Created in collaboration with Johnson & Johnson and the American Nurses Association.

For more nursing innovation resources from ANA, visit https://www.nursingworld.org/practice-policy/innovation/resources.

Have questions or feedback for the SEE YOU NOW team? Future episode ideas? Contact us at hello@seeyounowpodcast.com.

 

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